William Crocker, one of four men convicted in a 2011 fatal double-shooting at the Bushay Campground at Lake Mendocino, was sentenced to spend 25 years to life in prison Friday in Mendocino County Superior Court.

Crocker pleaded guilty in January to first-degree murder and attempted murder in the killing. He and Arone Schnebly -- who also pleaded guilty to the crimes -- allegedly held guns on a group of people at a campsite in the July 20, 2011 shooting, killing one man and injuring another. Crocker, Schnebly and another man with a baseball bat were driven to the campsite by Marvin D. Johnson intending to rob the group of marijuana and cash, witnesses testified previously.

"This was a horrific event, and it was not contemplated," said Crocker's Ukiah defense attorney, Al Kubanis, who stopped when laughter from the courtroom gallery interrupted him. Judge Anne Moorman admonished the crowd to be respectful and refrain from further interruption.

Kubanis continued, saying Crocker was "extremely sorry for what happened," and hadn't intended to kill anyone.

Moorman asked Crocker if he had anything to say, and his comments to the court were brief.

"Sorry, I didn't intend to hurt anybody; I'm sorry for what happened," he said.

In his sentencing statement in mitigation, Kubanis claimed that his client's stated purpose in going to the campground that night was to "kick ass and take names," and that he had likely gone on a "lark" to rob the group of marijuana and cash -- neither of which were found at the campsite.

"Sorry or not sorry, he took a life, a life who could walk in this room and make everybody smile even if it was a bad day," said Arnold Partridge, the cousin of Joe Litteral, 40, of Willits, who was beaten with a baseball bat and fatally shot by Crocker at the campsite. "He's (Crocker) a horrible, horrible man; he's a horrible person and I hope he rots in there."

Kubanis also claimed that Litteral and Brandon Haggett, 21, also of Willits, confronted Crocker despite the fact that he had a pistol, and that Crocker backed down.

"They had a right to defend themselves," said prosecutor Paul Sequeira of the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office. "Defending yourself does not make it any less of a first-degree murder."

Kubanis also said in his mitigation statement that Crocker didn't remember pulling the trigger of his .45-caliber pistol.

"He planned this," said Litteral's aunt, Jolinda Litteral-Partridge. "He knew what he was doing. He don't feel no sorrow; he don't feel no remorse."

Turning to Crocker, she continued, "You knew what you were doing, didn't you, and you want to try and sit there and say you didn't? Bull."

According to witnesses, Crocker twice fired the pistol he wielded, killing Litteral and injuring Haggett.

Johnson testified in June that Haggett came at Crocker when he and Schnebly held guns on the group, and that the fourth man, Simon Thornton, backed Crocker on Schnebly's orders.

According to Johnson's testimony, Thornton swung his bat first on the back of Haggett's head and then on Litteral's arm, breaking it, when Litteral came to Haggett's aid. Johnson said he heard Crocker fire the pistol twice, and that Schnebly never fired the shotgun. Litteral and Haggett were both hit in the chest.

A jury in June convicted Johnson and Thornton of first-degree murder and attempted murder on the premise that they aided and abetted in the crimes. The charges included a special allegation that the key perpetrators in the shooting were armed with guns.

Johnson was sentenced to spend 25 years to life in prison; Thornton was sentenced to 34 years to life in prison.

Tiffany Revelle can be reached at udjtr@ukiahdj.com, on Twitter @TiffanyRevelle or at 468-3523.